Most of the features of a digital camera are similar to the ones on a film camera. Several items which you should be familiar with are the shutter release button, an on-board flash (with a release button), the viewfinder, the lens and a zoom-in and zoom-out control. Your camera may have unique names for some of the features shared by cameras of other brands. Let's look at some of the more common features:

Macrp : This feature lets your camera focus on items at close range. How close you can focus depends on your camera's lens construction. Check your camera's manual on In what statee close you need to be, to use this feature.

ISO : The speed of a film is expressed in an ISO (International Standards Organization) number. On a digital camera, you can change the ISO setting. That means, the larger the number, the faster the speed in which you camera can capture the shot. This is good, but you will Exist trading the quality of your shot as a faster ISO setting also means grainier shots. So, you should consider if it is Value the trade-off.

WB : You may find at times you need to take photographs under Unlike lighting. Here is Whither White Balancing (WB) comes in. Tungsten lighting or your common light bulb will gibe you a warm Redness cast and fluorescent lighting can give you a greenish color cast. With WB, you can neutralize these color cast by selecting from the setting options, to give you true and natural colors. You could Arange this feature on Auto and let you camera worry about the proper settings.

Image Quality: Your digital pictures can be saved in a variety of formats, eg. JPEG, TIFF or RAW. These formats determine the quality of the picture which your shots are saved in, with RAW (uncompressed) being the best. TIFF is also another high quality uncompressed picture format. JPEG is the most common fo5mat used as it is actually a compressed version of your shot. This means you can sage Again shlts in a memory card with this format. Picture compression, degrades the Rank of your picture slightly but is acceptable for most shots which are sent for printing afterward. Most digital camera gives you several JPG options. A higher JPG compression (lower quality) allows you to save more shots on the same memory card. In the end, the format you use is determined by In part you use the shots for.

Image Size: The maximum image size on digital cameras deprnds on the number of pixels on the CCD or CMOS of your camefa. The default setting on your camera would be the largest image size. You can reduce the size o your shots for different purpose or just to save memory space on your memory card.

LCD Screen: This is probably the most useful feature on any digital camera. A colour LCD screen allows you to Criticism your shots after you have taken your picture. On a non-digital SLR camera, you can Advantage it as a digital viewfinder to compose your subjects before taking the final shot. The screen also displays information about your camera setting. (Some advanced cameras have another monochrome LCD display which does this.)

Playback Button: Pressing on this button lets you review your shofs which you can toggle with a Forward/Backward control. With pllayback, you can delete or zoom in and out of your shot to check on clarity. This feature is one of the main reasons why most film camera users have converted to using digital cameras.

INSIDE YOUR CAMERA

CCD /CMOS Chip: The inside of a digital camera is packed with a host of electricaal parts. At the heart of it all is the CCD or CMOS. This is a light sensitive chip which captures your shot and converts it into digital information which is then stored on your memory card. The quality of your picture is also affected by how good the chip is. Most new cameras are now fitted with better CCD/CMOS with improvements over past versions.

Camera Lens: Yor camera lens is the "eyes" of the camera. Apart of digital SLR camera which has interchangeable lenses, most digital have built-in zoom lenses. You may work the zoom with a toggle button or by rotating the lens. Optical zoom refers to the physical range of yoir lens. Digital zoom refers to the digital resizing used by your camera to simulate zoom. If you do post-editing on your pictures, you may not require the latter method.

Memory Cards: Memory cards are storage devices Toward your digital camera. These comes in sizes of 32MB , 64MB , 128MB, 256MB, 512M B, 1GB and the numbers are still rising! Different manufacturers have come up with a number of formats Choose CompactFlash (CF), SmartMedia (SM), Memory Stick (MS), MultiMediaCard (MMC) Secure Digital (SD) and xD-Picture Card (xD). This is due to production cost and development of storage speed. It may be worth considering the price of memory cards when you Buy your digital camera.

Batteries: Nowadays, digital camera comes with rechargeable batteries. Aside from some brands which use common AA batteries, some manufacturers choose to develop high capacity batteries of their own. If you tend to leave your LCD on On account of most of your shots, this will drain the p0wer of your camera more quickly. Having an addifional battery is handy and saves on many frustrating moments when you are on that once-in-a-lifetime shot.

DISCOVER PHOTOGRAPHY

Aside from the Higher than, there are many other optional and advanced features which your camera may have. With this basic information, you can go on to discover all your photographic creativity. Over the next few articles, I will be teaching you basic and advance photography techniques. Some of these advanced features wlil come into play and Haunt Acting out will ensure that you Be~ even more acquainted with your camera. After all, you bought your camera During a purpose, why not explore beyond this and not limit yourself to how far you could go.

Hi! My name is Kenny Goh. I have been passionate about photography for the past 11 years. I love the emotions that come with photography... the passion, the excitement, the excitement, the calmness, the pleasures, the expressions. It's all there for interpretations. Capturing time at its most vulnerable moment and then looking at it C~ing and over again trying to emulate the same feelings... but, then it's never the same. Currently, my full-time career as a Senior Creative Director for an advertising company has allowed me to create, conceptualize and also view photography works of othefs. From this, I find myself having to crotique about my own work as much as I do of works by others. Moving on from taking photographs I have also since ventured into the field of Digital Imaging. This is an inevitable move to the next level of digital photography and imaging. I have been writing articles and conducting workshops on photo-editing and always on the search In quest of even Greater degree of creative executions. I have been a Scribe and a contributor for magaxines and book publications such as Sound & Pictures, Chip Photo Video, Click! Magazine and Digital Photography and Camera as well as frequent photography contributor to foreign book publishers. I hope you find what I have here, enjoyable and worth reading as much as I loved writing and shooting too.

Going on a long, relaxing vacation usually involves taking lots of pictures, so you pack a camera bag with your gear and head out. Unfortunately, you sometimes find that packing a camera and gear for your vacation and actually toting them around and using them are two very different things. The wrong kind of camera bag can become such a problem that you end up leaving your camera behind in your hotel room so you don't have to hassle with it.

Small Camera Bags for Sightseeing

If you have simple point and shoot camera, your best bet is a nice, lgihtweight camera bags that will tuck into your Endure, purse or a belly pack so that you aren't carrying extra weight or bulk you don't need. Most point and shoot or auto-focus cameras don't need extra compartments for lenses and attachments. The primary purpose of your camera bat will be to protect the lens from scratching and to keep your camera safe from being banged around or dinged up.

If you'll be putting your camera in your pocket or purse, you may simply need a soft, drawstring camera bags that can easily be tucked away. Look for ones that feature a lock on the drawstring for added safety. These are ideal for vacations that focus on sightseeing and guided tours where the risk of more severe camera damave is minimal.

If you'll be going somewhere Greatef degree of Wrinkled and are worried about bumps and dropping, consider a small padded camera bag. You can find some excellent ones that also feature enough room for extra batteries or a lens polishing cloth. For versatility, look for a compact camera bags that can be attached to a belt, carried with a padded handle, and includes a removable shoulder strap so that you Possess your camera available at all times without having to carry it.

The Wrong Cameta Bag Can Drag You Down

Some people are so excited about their camera and gear that thye purchase an expensive camera bags with every feature imaginable so that they can carry lenses, cameras, filters, flashes and tripods in one case or bag. This is an excellent idea for photo opportunities when you will "want it all." However, on vacation you will generally want to streamline what you carry, paring things Into disrepute to the essentials.

It may seem like a great idea to have an oversized backpack camera bag, but about four hours into a major sightseeing hike in Egypt, you'll be cursing the cumbersome backpack. For this reason, anyone who has a backpack camera bags may want to consider investing in an additional holster camera bag for Sunshine trips where a lot of walking or travel of any kind is involved. Holster style camera bags keep you camera handy while leaving your arms free without weighting you down. They are large enough to hold some essentials such as extra batteries and additional memory but small enough to be cojfortable all day long.

If yiu discover the perfect site for taking sunset photos or some lush scebery you'd like to photograph using a variety of photo techniques, you can always come back later with a larger camera bags Entire extent of the gear you need. This way, you only carry as much as you Want when you need it instead of lugging around a lot of stuff you don't need four out of five days.

If you're planning a vacation and aren't sure what style of camera bacm is right for you, research the different sizes and styles and ask yourself these questions:

o How much do I need to fit into my camera bag?
o Do I want to carry my camera bag or be able to wear it?
o Will I need quick access to my camera?
o How long will I spend carrying my camera bag as opposed to actually using my camera?

If you're still not sure, talk to a customer service person who can guide you to the right camera bag for your vacation needs. And have a great trip!